Great Plains Regional Medical Center

Contributing to an HIE to enable continuity of care

The emergency department (ED) at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Nebraska has made remarkable advancements in interoperability by sharing information across the enterprise and with the state Health Information Exchange (HIE). The ED, which receives 15,800 annual patient visits and is Level III Trauma Certified, implemented EV™ to help it offer a more seamless patient care experience across providers. GPRMC uses the EV patient tracking, physician documentation and nurse documentation modules.

By importing all EV documents to its enterprise system, GPRMC makes patient records from prior ED visits available electronically and also gives other providers faster access to the records. EV also offered GPRMC a way to participate in the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NeHII), one of the most successful HIEs in the nation. The NeHII HIE provides services that securely exchange important clinical information among providers immediately at the point of care. ED reports from EV were the first documents successfully transmitted from the hospital to the NeHII system. GPRMC has sent more than 82,000 patient records to NeHII since June 2010.

The ability to share electronic health records across providers is just one of GPRMC’s notable achievements with EV. EV also prompts clinicians to record patient allergies and reactions and allows them to review prescription histories, thus improving patient safety. GPRMC’s lab results are no longer misplaced and delayed because EV’s tracking board displays them in real time. Clinician workflow also became efficient and streamlined, and GPRMC has been able to see an additional 300-400 patients per month as a result.

“A lot of people come through here, so the ED has to run smoothly. EV allows us to maintain consistent quality of care while serving more patients,” said Lynette Caldwell, GPRMC IS programmer/analyst.